Newspaper Page Text
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2016
THE COMMERCE NEWS • THE BANKS COUNTY NEWS
PAGE 5B
School News
At The Rock' at Death Valley
Commerce High School agriculture students pose for a picture around “The students learned about how the field’s turf is protected and maintained and
Rock,” at Clemson University’s Death Valley football stadium. While there, the about possible careers in turf management.
Commerce agriculture students tour Clemson University
Commerce High School agriculture students went on a field
trip on Thursday, Oct. 27, to Clemson University.
Students spent the morning at the Beef Cattle Research
Farm and Sheep Research Farm. The farms maintain approxi
mately 800 head of cattle and over 100 head of sheep.
Gary Burns, the Beef and Sheep Farm manager, guided
students through the 1,000-acre farm where they viewed the
livestock, working facilities and feeding operations. After the
farm tour, students ate lunch on campus and learned about
Clemson University applying to college, college admissions
and majors from Katie Black, the recmiter for the College of
Agriculture, Forestry and Life Sciences.
After lunch, students visited Death Valley, the Clemson
University football stadium, and learned about turf/grass
management from athletic grounds manager Mike Echols,
who discussed careers related to turf/grass, field manage
ment, as well as maintaining a football field throughout a
season.
A lesson on livestock
Students listen to Gary Bums, Beef and Sheep Farm manager at Clemson
University, talk about working facilities and how to handle livestock safely and
efficiently.
Learn about turf management
Mike Echols, athletic grounds manager at Clemson University, discusses
maintaining a football field and the management of the turf at Death Valley,
home of the Clemson Tigers.
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Exploring the Merk farm
The entire student body of Maysville Elementary School went on a field trip Friday, Oct. 14, to the Merk farm, located four miles from the school.
Maysville Elementary School students go down on the farm
BY ANGELA GARY
At one station, students learned about getting food from the
garden. At another stop, the students walked up on a trailer to get
a close look at dairy cows who gathered around them. Students
also got a close look at tractors and other farm equipment.
The entire student body of Maysville Elementary School trav
eled a few miles away to the Merk Family Farm on Oct. 14 where
they learned about farm life.
The effort, coordinated by school nutrition director Debra Mor
ris, gave students an upclose look at where food comes from. It
was part of the Feed My School For a Week Program.
“The Feed My School for A Week Program was designed
to help bridge the gaps in the nutritional value and quality of
food served in Georgia schools, while providing more farm to
cafeteria opportunities,” Dr. Morris said. “The result is healthier
students, decreased barriers in farm to cafeteria opportunities
and increased awareness as students learn and experience, both
educationally and nutritionally where their food comes from.”
Maysville Elementary is the site for the Feed My School activi
ties for Jackson County for the 2016-2017 school year.
The Merk Family Farm is a 100-year-old, 100-acre farm, which is
located only four miles from the school.
While at the farm, students rotated to a variety of educational
stations to learn more about Georgia agriculture and where their
food comes from. Station topics included fall fruit, beef cattle,
forestry bee keeping, peanuts, eating from a garden, farmercise
and the history of plowing.
Students received a welcome from Dr. April Howard, super
intendent of Jackson County Schools; Richard Presley, mayor of
Maysville; Charlie Howington, a Maysville council member and
employee of Mar Jac; and Misty Friedman, Farm to School Coor
dinator from the Georgia Department of Agriculture.
After the morning at the farm, students returned to the school
for a grat>and-go lunch with foods sourced from Georgia to allow
them an opportunity to review the events of the morning with
their teachers.
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